The Power of Two

Recently, I have been reading about draft horses.  Draft horses are huge, muscular animals, and throughout history, they have been used for pulling significant loads.  While a single draft horse can pull up to four tons, two draft horses pulling together can pull three times as much.  If the two horses have been trained with one another and have worked together before, the two in tandem can haul sixteen tons, which is four times as heavy as either of the horses could pull by themselves!  God knew the power of two, so He instituted marriage!  That is why God created Eve as a "suitable helper!" That is why Jesus sent the disciples two by two to proclaim the good news!  The Bible e...

The ‘Yes’ face!

During his days as President, Thomas Jefferson had been traveling across the country on horseback with his companions when they came to a swollen river.  A bridge had been washed away, and a stranger stood there stranded.  Each rider was forced to ford the river on horseback, fighting for his life against the rapid currents.  When the President was about to cross, the stranger asked him if he would help him across.  The President agreed without hesitation.  As the stranger landed on dry ground on the other side, one in the group asked him why he selected the President to ask this favor.  The man was shocked.  He did not know that he was the President, for it was before the dawn of T...

Adam / Madam, where art thou?

In the cool of the day, the LORD God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  But one day, Adam and Eve hid themselves from Him when He came.  We all know the story.  They hid themselves because they had disobeyed God.  Their guilt and sin kept them from the Presence of God.  And God Himself came looking for Man, the fallen human race!  From the Garden of Eden, the story continues, even today.  And God found Enoch, who walked with God.  God saw Noah as a just man, perfect in his generation, who walked with God.  God is looking for men and women who would walk with Him even in our generation.  God is looking for men and women who seek God. &...

The Story of Life!

My father used to tell anecdotes and stories when he preached to make a point.  And he titled this story, 'The Fast Ball'.  A little boy went to the street corner shop to buy something. An old woman also came there at that moment, and when she took her purse out, it opened, and coins scattered around the little boy's feet.  A five rupee coin rolled and came to rest just next to his feet.  All the little boy had to do was move his foot one inch, and the coin would be his!  It was the battle of his life!  Temptations are all around us.  Sometimes society accepts certain sins as a way of life!  The warning for us is in Gen 4:5-6, the LORD said to Cain, "…. If yo...

All things made new!

Our lives are broken in many ways.  Sometimes our hearts are broken, our health is broken, or our finance is broken.  Our democracy is broken, our Governments are broken, and our systems are broken too.  In every situation, we long for restoration and renewal.  Revelation 21 begins with this remarkable statement: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away ..." We have come full circle in the Bible.  Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."Revelation ends with a New Heaven and a New Earth.  Rev 21:5-6 contains a beautiful promise, "… I am making everything new!”...

Bible, The Word of God

Sometime back, I read an article about the gemstones used in the Book of Revelation, which was pretty educative.  Scientists have discovered that gems could be classified as anisotropic or isotropic in the past century.  Anisotropic means doubly refracting, and isotropic means it is single refracting.  But only recently have they discovered that cross-polarized light can be used to identify whether a gem is anisotropic or isotropic.  Anisotropic stones produce a colorful array when viewed in crossed polarized light, similar to pure light, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow.  In contrast, isotropic gems lose all of their colors and appear black!  It is interesting to note that gems menti...

Reading, Hearing, and Keeping

Twenty years ago, my second son was admitted to the hospital for a medical emergency.  And I sat beside him and read the book of Revelation aloud in one sitting, knowing it is one book that promises a blessing to the reader!  It does not stop there.  Rev 1:3 says, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near."  Besides reading or hearing, we must also keep the things written there.  By doing all of these things, we receive the promised blessings!  Though the book of Revelation is rich with imagery and symbols that are not easy for us to understand, the message of Revelation is the same...

Learning from History

History was never my favorite subject in school, but I now find it immensely interesting.  History of the Ancient World, World History, and Bible History greatly fascinate me.  We should learn from history and our past mistakes, but history teaches us that we never learn anything from history!  After experiencing the horrors of the two World Wars, I never thought humans would ever start another war, but here we are in the midst of another great conflict!  Human beings never seem to learn anything from history!  The Bible is a book of history, the history of the people chosen by God and ordinary people like you and me.  The Bible is also 'His story' -God's story- because He is sovereignly work...

Ungratefulness

The expression, 'the glass is half-full, or half-empty, has existed in many European languages for centuries.  But it was popularized by some management gurus to distinguish between optimists and pessimists much later.  Pessimism is a character trait, and the Bible has a lot to say about the source of this negative trait.  Always focusing on the negatives and ignoring all the positives in life directly results from an ungrateful heart.  While Paul warned Timothy of the kind of people he should avoid in 2 Tim 3:1-5, he included ungrateful people also.  Ungratefulness is mentioned alongside other sins, like idolatry and sexual immorality, and is worthy of hell.  Ungratefulness is a deal breaker in relationships.  It is...

Thy Kingdom come…

Every time we say our Lord's prayer, we say the phrase 'Thy Kingdom Come' without batting an eyelid!  Somehow we feel it is a future event.  We think it points to the millennial rule of Christ at the end of times.  We have to look forward to the millennial reign, but it is not what Jesus meant when he taught us to pray using this phrase.  Jesus took great trouble to teach His disciples and us the fundamental nature of His Kingdom through many illustrations, parables, and allegories (Mt.13:31-33).  Unless we understand what 'His Kingdom' means, we cannot understand what Jesus was trying to teach us.

Then the Kingdom of God is nothing but the 'rule of...